Aug. 5, 1875] 



NATURE 



267 



show what an enormous amount of work has been got 

 through in seven years. First of all there is an Annual 

 Report of Progress, in which, without waiting for com- 

 pleted surveys, the general results of each year's work are 

 given, in geology, palaeontology, mineralogy, natural his- 

 tory, meteorology, archaeology, and economic products of 

 every kind. Then come what are called Miscellaneous 

 PubHcations and " Bulletins"— little pamphlets giving 

 data in meteorology, topography, natural history, or other 

 information gathered in the course of the Survey. Next 

 we have large quarto monographs, admirably printed and 

 illustrated, devoted to the discussion of the more technical 

 and matured results, such, for instance, as the palaeon- 

 tology of a wide region or of a formation. Lastly, a series 

 of topographical maps of parts of the districts surveyed 

 has been published. These will be of great value as a 

 basis for the general map to be afterwards constructed. 

 Geologists in this country accustomed to the elaborate 

 geological maps issued by our Government, may perhaps 

 at first wonder why geological maps, properly so called, 

 do not appear among the publications of the Geological 

 Survey of the Territories. But the delay in the issuing of 

 a general map is as necessary as it is prudent. A report 

 may be written of what one sees. It is complete in itself; 

 and if it is found to contain errors, these can be corrected 

 in a subsequent report. But a sheet of a geological map 

 must fit accurately to its neighbours. If it is surveyed 

 and published without waiting for the investigation of the 

 surrounding area, it will most probably be found some- 

 where, at least, erroneous ; and to make it harmonise with 

 adjoining sheets may require so much alteration as to 

 demand, perhaps, even the cancelling of the old and the 

 engraving of a new plate. Therefore we are content to 

 wait for Dr. Hayden's geological map of the Territories 

 in confident anticipation that it will be worthy of the high 

 reputation which he and his staff have already gained. 



It should be added, that with the most praiseworthy 

 liberality the publications of the Survey are distributed as 

 gifts to learned bodies and scientific men all over the 

 world. All that is asked is that, where possible, the scien- 

 tific publications of the recipients of the volumes may be 

 sent in exchange. It is to be hoped that this generous 

 spirit has called forth a similar feeling elsewhere, and that 

 the library of the Geological Survey of the Territories is 

 continually augmented by presents from all parts of the 

 world. Arch. Geikie 



FISKE'S ''COSMIC PHILOSOPHY" 

 Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy^ based on the Doctrine of 

 Evolution, with Criticisms on the Positive Philosophy. 

 By John Fiske, M.A., LL.B., Assistant Librarian, and 

 formerly Lecturer on Philosophy, at Harvard Uni- 

 versity. 2 vols. (London : Macmillan and Co., 1874.) 

 WE have repeatedly expressed our admiration of the 

 system of philosophy which Mr. Spencer is en- 

 gaged in working out. Mr. Fiske, in giving an outline of 

 this philosophy, has called it Cosmic; a name which he 

 thinks peculiarly fitting, because " the term ' Cosmos * 

 connotes the orderly succession of phenomena quite as 

 forcibly as it denotes the totality of phenomena ; and with 

 anything absolute or ontological, with anything save the 

 ' Mundus ' or orderly world of phenomena, it has nothing 



whatever to do." But Mr. Spencer is far from ignoring 

 the absolute, and the ontological element in his specula- 

 tions has frequently been the subject of criticism ; and 

 surely Mr. Fiske goes beyond an account of the orderly 

 succession of phenomena in all that he has to say about 

 the " Infinite Power manifested in the world of pheno- 

 mena," which he finds that we are : clearly bound to 

 symbolise as quasi-psychical rather than as quasi-mate- 

 rial, so that we may say with meaning, " God is Spirit, 

 though we may not say, in the 'materialistic sense, that 

 God is Force." 



As the Evolution-Philosophy, which is for the most 

 part but higher science, has swallowed up the rival 

 systems of former times, and now stands itself without a 

 rival, we need not pause to speak of its." merits. Our first 

 duty then is to acknowledge that Mr. Fiske has succeeded 

 in giving a very faithful and attractive sketch of Mr. 

 Spencer's philosophy. He has made all the thoughts his 

 own, and has, we should think, secured for himself a 

 recognised place among the most advanced thinkers of 

 our time. But Mr. Fiske claims that his work shall be 

 regarded as more than a mere reproduction of Mr. 

 Spencer's thoughts. It contains "much new matter, 

 both critical and constructive." In relation to the evolu- 

 tion of society, the author supposes he has anticipated 

 what " will doubtless be much more thoroughly and satis- 

 factorily presented by Mr. Spencer in his forthcoming 

 work on Sociology." Without stopping to inquire 

 whether a love of system may not here, as elsewhere, 

 have led to a slight waste of energy and a straining of 

 words, it must without doubt be recognised that Mr. 

 Fiske has expressed with clearness and ability many 

 large and important truths, the recognition of which must 

 have a very healthy and elevating effect. Nothing can 

 be better than for people to reflect that moral progress 

 consists in the continual " adaptation of the desires of 

 each individual to the requirements arising from the co- 

 existent desires of all neighbouring individuals." Again, 

 the superiority of a true philosophy over some modes of 

 thought which still claim to be the most advanced, may 

 be learned from Mr. Fiske's profound appreciation of the 

 vital part played by the Roman Church in the evolution 

 of European civilisation. 



The original matter, however, on which the author lays 

 most stress, refers to the genesis of man. He works out 

 a theory as to the part taken by the prolongation of 

 human infancy in originating social evolution, which, in 

 his own words, " is entirely new in all its features." To 

 account for the passage from mere gregariousness to 

 sociality as marked by permanent family groups, is the 

 problem Mr. Fiske has set himself, and his solution is 

 this :— Mr. Wallace has given a most beautiful exposition 

 of the operation of natural selection at that point in the 

 evolution of man from a lower form when variations in 

 intelligence began to be seized on and preserved rather 

 than variations in bodily structure. It was then that our 

 remote progenitors began to clothe their bodies and to 

 prepare their food, that the ape of many devices survived 

 where his perhaps stronger or swifter contemporaries 

 perished. Now, increase in intelligence, says Mr. P'iske, 

 implies increase in size and complexity of brain ; and, as 

 a matter of observation, this structure, as it becomes more 

 and more complex, is less and less definitely organised at 



